Read More

Marlise Hofer, the study’s lead author and a graduate student in the UBC department of psychology, said: "Many people wear their partner’s shirt or sleep on their partner’s side of the bed when their partner is away, but may not realize why they engage in these behaviours.

“Our findings suggest that a partner’s scent alone, even without their physical presence, can be a powerful tool to help reduce stress.”

For the study, the researchers recruited 96 opposite-sex couples. Men were given a clean T-shirt to wear for 24 hours, and were told to refrain from using deodorant and scented body products, smoking and eating certain foods that could affect their scent.

The T-shirts were then frozen to preserve their distinctive whiffs.

The women, who were chosen as 'smellers' as they generally have better a sense of smell than men, were randomly assigned to sniff a T-shirt that was either unworn, had been worn by their partner, or was once worn by a stranger.

Read More

The women, who did not know which shirts they had been handed, underwent a stress test that involved a mock job interview and a mental math task, and also answered questions about their stress levels and provided saliva samples used to measure their cortisol levels.

Frances Chen, the study’s senior author and assistant professor in the UBC department of psychology, said: “With globalization, people are increasingly traveling for work and moving to new cities.

“Our research suggests that something as simple as taking an article of clothing that was worn by your loved one could help lower stress levels when you’re far from home.”